Motor vehicle body classification: tanker body fixed to a chassis falls under Heading 8707, not as a transport container.

An ethylene oxide road tanker built for mounting and fixing on a chassis was classifiable as a body for motor vehicles under Heading 8707, not as a container under Heading 8609.00. The decisive factor was that the tanker was designed to be bolted onto a vehicle chassis and was not independently equipped as a transport container for carriage of fluids in the manner contemplated by Heading 8609.00. Because the goods answered the description of a motor vehicle body rather than a specialised transport container, the excise classification under Heading 8707 was upheld and the challenge to the contrary classification failed.

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Issues: Whether an Ethylene Oxide Road Tanker, built to be mounted and fixed on a chassis, was classifiable as a container under Heading 8609.00 or as a body for motor vehicles under Heading 8707 of the Central Excise Tariff.

Analysis: The product was designed to be secured on the chassis with bolts and nuts and was not independently equipped for carrying fluids in the manner contemplated by Heading 8609.00. The Heading covering containers applies to transport containers specially designed and equipped for carriage by one or more modes of transport, whereas the goods in question were in the nature of bodies to be fitted on a vehicle chassis. Since the tankers were mounted on chassis, they answered the description of bodies for motor vehicles under Heading 8707.

Conclusion: The product was correctly classified under Heading 8707 and not under Heading 8609.00; the appeal failed.

Final Conclusion: The classification adopted by the appellate authority was upheld, and the challenge to the excise classification was rejected.

Ratio Decidendi: A tanker body built for mounting on a vehicle chassis, and not independently equipped as a transport container, is classifiable as a body for motor vehicles rather than as a container for transport of fluids.

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